IAN Durrant made his breakthrough into the Rangers first team in completely different circumstances to those which new Ibrox teen sensation Findlay Curtis has suddenly emerged in.
“What helped me was that the club was redeveloping at the stadium,” said Durrant during a RYDC promotional event at Ibrox yesterday as he looked back on his debut against Morton in a Premier Division game at Cappielow in the April of 1985.
“So myself, Derek Ferguson, Robert Fleck and Hugh Burns were given the opportunity because there wasn't a lot of money to go and spend on new players. There wasn’t an age barrier then. We never really had the academy, we were more apprentices.
“I didn't think for a minute I’d be a Jock Wallace player as he liked players who were six foot plus and could head the ball further than I could kick it.
“But we had a practice match on the Friday and he just came across and gave me two complimentary tickets. He just said, ‘Right, you're playing tomorrow’. There was no time to think about it. Just get a good night's sleep. That was it. Cheers gaffer. And you just go and play.”
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Curtis, who justified his shock selection for the Champions League second round qualifying match against Panathinaikos at Ibrox on Tuesday night with a well-taken opening goal in the second half, has faced far stiffer competition for a start than his illustrious predecessor.
New manager Russell Martin inherited a decent squad when he succeeded Philippe Clement back at the start of June and he has brought in no fewer than eight new recruits during the summer. It was, even with a number of key players not being fully fit, a major surprise when the teenage winger was given the nod.
But Durrant, who went on to enjoy a long and trophy-laden career at his boyhood heroes in the years which followed his own bow, certainly appreciates what it is like to be in the position which his promising young countryman has suddenly found himself thrust into.
He knows, then, just how difficult it will be for Curtis to cope with being thrust into the spotlight, to build on his bright display in midweek and to establish himself as a regular starter. But he has shown that it can be done and had some sage words of advice for the gifted kid.
“Findlay will be flying just now after getting a goal in the Champions League qualifier,” he said. “If he continues to perform like that, he’ll be a starter. But it will be a rocky road. Now it’s a question of how he goes about it. You can’t just kind of go, ‘Okay, I’ve achieved something’. Your manager and coaches have got to handle that. But they will.
“There's tough games coming up. The young players, they're up, they're down. The manager will know that. But it's about hard work all the time now. If you don't put the hard work in, you'll not get it. You can’t just relax and say ‘Okay, I've made it after one game’.”
Durrant added, “I knew I was good enough. But, as I said, what helped us then was that the gaffer couldn't go and buy players. Now it's a different matter. I think the manager here can go and get players.
“But he’s got a good understanding of his best youth players. He's integrated them into training. From what I hear now, they've stood out. They've held their own in the training.
“It's always great to have one of your own or a couple of your own coming through so the fans can have that identity. It gives the younger generation of fans growing up a chance of saying, ‘Well, I could be another Findlay Curtis’.”
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Durrant could easily have dropped out of the first team picture after Graeme Souness was appointed Rangers player-manager in 1986. The former Liverpool man promptly embarked upon a signing spree which became known as The Souness Revolution. But he relished training and playing with the big names who arrived in Govan and improved greatly as a result of their presence.
The former midfielder expects Curtis to develop further working alongside the experienced and accomplished professionals who Martin has assembled around him since returning to Glasgow last month.
“I lived a mile down the road from Ibrox and all of a sudden I was standing next to Graeme Souness in the tunnel,” he said. “I was playing with one of the finest Scottish midfielders ever. I was playing with England captain Terry Butcher, Chris Woods, Ray Wilkins, Trevor Francis.
“I lived the dream playing with David Cooper. I was in awe of David Cooper. I got the opportunity to play with David Cooper. I wasn’t going to knock that back. I am sure Findlay will be loving being a part of things and will get better as a consequence of that.”
“He works at it every day,” he said. “That's his philosophy. That's what he wants to implement. It was a bit harum-scarum the other night, but that's his philosophy. That's the way he wants to play, so the players have to buy into it.
“You could see in the second half, when they went 2-0 up, they were a bit more relaxed. You could see what he's trying to implement. There will be times where you'll be on the edge of your seats, but that's Russell's philosophy. You've just got to accept what he wants to do.
“I don’t think Big Jock would have liked seeing us play that way. Graeme tried to introduce it. He saw different aspects, different kinds of formation and different tactics in his time in Italy. He just wanted to get the ball down and play. Big Jock was a bit more about getting the ball forward.
“But this is the modern game now. Everybody now, since Pep Guardiola has come in, is trying to play like that, to play PlayStation football.”
Light Blues legend Ian Durrant was speaking as he promoted RYDC’s Big Blue Jackpot, a new Rangers Lotto prize for supporters who can win guaranteed end-of-month jackpots of at least £12,000 and £15,000 from August. Full details at www.rydc.co.uk
